Showing posts with label Tips and Techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips and Techniques. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Soft Hard Boiled Eggs – Cooking with Steam

As vaguely promised in the grilled shrimp Louie video, here is my foolproof method for doing hard-boiled eggs, when we want softer, creamier yolks. This style works very nicely for salads, and above and beyond the texture, we get pure egg flavor, without the sulfuric bitterness that over-boiled eggs suffer from.

Of course, there are variables. Large egg sizes can vary, as does the temperature of refrigerators, so your time to hard boiled egg nirvana may vary. For me, 6 to 7 minutes gives me a perfect runny yolk; 9 to 10 minutes gives me what you see in the video, or a “soft hard boiled egg,” if you prefer; and 11-12 gets you closer to the fully-cooked, classic yolk.

My suggestion is to get a dozen eggs, and do some tests. This steaming method is very precise, and repeatable, once you lock it in. By the way, there doesn’t seem to be a big difference whether you cook one egg or six, but I’ve never actually tried this with a whole dozen, so if you do, let me know the results. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
3 quart saucepan with lid
1 1/4 cup water
6 large eggs, straight from the refrigerator

Friday, July 22, 2016

How to Make Sushi Rice That Even Works for Sushi

I don’t make sushi at home very often, or ever, since we’re surrounded by top-notch sushi chefs here in San Francisco, but that doesn’t mean I don’t make sushi rice. I think sushi rice makes a perfect side dish for just about any grilled meat, and since it’s perfectly fine at room temperature, it’s great for picnics.

You can even turn it into some quick tortilla-less tacos using nori seaweed wraps, as seen in the video. They make for such a unique summer meal – the perfect delivery system for any and all leftovers. I even seen it rolled into balls, and tossed in toasted sesame seeds, or seaweed, and served like truffles.

What I’m trying to say is, you can do a lot with this stuff. Including sushi. There are thousands of videos on YouTube showing how to make literally every type of sushi in existence, so check those out if you’re so inclined. Maybe one of these days I’ll even give it a go, if only for the “constructive criticism.”  I really hope you give this sushi rice technique a try soon.  Enjoy!


2 cups sushi rice, rinsed well, and left to dry for one hour
2 1/4 cups water
1/4 to 1/3 cup seasoned *rice vinegar, or to taste

* I buy mine already seasoned, but to make your own seasoned rice vinegar; combine:
1 cup rice vinegar, or cider vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Potato Roses – A Side Dish That's Stacked

I saw a picture of something called “potato stacks,” online last year, on a blog called Home Cooking Adventure, and I thought to myself, those sure look a lot more like roses than stacks. So, long story short, I stole the idea, and now that it has a much more social media-friendly name, I fully expect this to go viral.

The technique is straightforward, but make sure you season the potatoes generously. I use about two teaspoons of kosher salt in this, and along with the cheese, that seems to be just about right. Having said that, taste for salt varies greatly from person to person, so remember what you used, and adjust next time if need be. These would be great for entertaining, since you can make them ahead, and keep them warm in the pan, or cool and reheat in the oven when you are ready to serve. I really hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!


Makes 12 Potato Roses:
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 tablespoon minced rosemary or 2 tablespoon thyme leaves
freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste
3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

- 400 F. for 45-60 minutes